18 December 2018
A former hospital executive was sentenced Monday to 39 months in prison for pocketing $10-million bribe in return for helping engineering giant SNC-Lavalin win a Montreal hospital-building contract. Yanai Elbaz and Arthur Porter, the former CEO of Montreal’s English-language super hospital took a bribe of $22.5 to rig a bid in favour of SNC-Lanvin. Porter died a fugitive in Panamanian custody in 2015 without facing trial. Elbaz pleaded guilty to four charges: accepting a bribe, influence peddling, breach of trust and money laundering.
Former SNC-Lavalin chief executive Pierre Duhaime’s trial is set to begin in February.
SNC-Lavalin’s failure to reach a negotiated settlement with the Canadian authorities has resulted in a US$3.7 billion loss of revenue and a damaged reputation. SNC has a market capitalization of about $8.3 billion. SNC CEO, Neil Bruce(in picture), said that it is a far different company than the one that became embroiled in a corruption scandal in 2012. The company has since introduced numerous measures to strengthen ethics and compliance.
